Mount Wellington is Hobart's signature
park, the large summit pinnacle (a TV broadcast tower) is visible
from much of Tasmania's southeast area, and, with a paved road to the
1271 metre summit, the mountain is Hobart's biggest tourist
attraction.
The whole mountain is criss-crossed
with tracks and is very popular with Hobart walkers. Many of the
tracks, however, start low on the mountain and stay in the trees for
all or much of their distance. Having no inclination to spend
another sunny day like blind moles tunneling through dense forest,
we chose a loop walk that would take us up onto the open summit
plateau via one track, then back down another.
Doug at the top of the Ice House Track
overlooking the Tasman Peninsula
There are countless variations, ours
went from The Springs picnic area (site of an hotel since burnt in
bushfires) along the Milles Track to the Ice House Track. An hour or
less from starting out, we were up on the summit plateau where the
air was startlingly clear and we could see into the Southwest
Wilderness – I think possibly the elusive Precipitous Bluff – and
of course, over to the Tasman Peninsula, out to Bruny Island, and all
over the suburbs of Hobart and the Derwent River.
At a junction we detoured to Smith's
Memorial having no idea who or what this was. Turns out, John Smith
was a doctor with Derwent Water in the mid 1800's who got lost and
died on the mountain in January 1858. The memorial is covered with a
home-made canvas cover. Someone obviously remembers John Smith.
John Smith Memorial
Back on the main track, the Ice House
Track becomes the South Wellington track and leads over to all the
development at the summit area. Various board-walked viewpoints, a
trig station, the large TV broadcasting tower that looks eerily like
a North Korean nuclear missile and, given the nature of most TV, is
likely easily as dangerous.
There was a biting west wind at the
summit. We wandered about the various lookouts and then strolled
down the Zig Zag Track passing many inept walkers to the Organ Pipes
track. This seems to be a popular route up, at least as far as the
junction with the Zig Zag Track, and I can only assume that the
Chalet sells pies. We had another detour to look at the climbing
areas on the Organ Pipes – shady, cold, burly – is my assessment
at a glance. No-one was climbing.
Not a bad lunch spot
Back at the junction, the Zig Zag Track
becomes the Pinnacle Track (Australians really like to have many
different names for the same road or track) and leads back down to
the Springs. Soon, we began passing small groups of walkers on the
way up. I checked my watch 1.15 pm. I have a theory that the only
time you ever meet other walkers on the track is within ten minutes
of the parking lot. I arrived at the car at 1.23 pm. Draw your own
conclusions.
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